A Texas woman, Jeanette LeBlanc, developed a fatal infection with flesh-eating bacteria after eating raw oysters. Jeanette went crabbing with her friends and family on the coast of Louisiana in September, reported CBS News, and during the trip, LeBlanc and her friend Karen Bowers shucked and ate about two dozen raw oysters.

Shortly afterward, LeBlanc experienced breathing problems, then noticed a rash on her legs, which looked like an allergic reaction. But her condition continued to worsen, and when she went to receive help, doctors said she was infected with a type of "flesh-eating" bacteria called Vibrio.

Vibrio bacteria naturally live in coastal waters and are particularly abundant between May and October, when the water is warmer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). People can become infected with this deadly bacteria by eating raw or undercooked shellfish, which include oysters. People can also become infected if they have open wounds on their skin that are exposed to brackish or salt water, and unfortunately LeBlanc was exposed to both.

Vibrio bacteria cause about 80,000 illnesses and 100 deaths each year in the United States, according to the CDC. Most people who contract Vibrio from raw oysters experience only diarrhea and vomiting, and those with these milder cases typically recover in about three days. But in some people, a more serious illness can occur, resulting in bloodstream infections and severe blistering skin lesions.

About 1 in 4 people with these serious infections will die from the illness.

Janette battled the illness for 21 days but was not able to recover, and she died on Oct. 15, 2017, CBS said. Now, LeBlanc's partner, Vicki Bergquist, and Bowers want to raise awareness about Vibrio infections. "If we had known that the risk was so high, I think she would've stopped eating oysters," Bergquist said.

Well to be honest, the risk isn't all that high, but the possibility is obviously greater when you expose yourself to items that could contain it such as eating raw oysters or going in brackish water.

Here's What You Need To Know

This flesh-eating disease is known as Necrotizing fasciitis, and although rare, it's gaining attention particularly due to the recent flooding in Texas and Louisiana. It actually only affects about 1 in 250,000 people, which means that the average person has a .000004 percent chance of ever contracting this infection.

What does this have to do with flooding you might ask? Well some major news outlets covered a woman who died as a result of flesh-eating bacteria as she was wading through the floodwaters of her son’s home. Recently, 77-year-old Nancy Reed of Kingwood, Texas, exposed a wound on her body to floodwaters highly contaminated with E. coli and coliform bacteria, the latter of which is an organism present in fecal matter and that signals additional pathogens are probably in the water.

Each year, about 1,000 cases are reported annually, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considers that statistic to be very low, even though not all cases are reported or tracked. So while you’re unlikely to experience this condition, there are risk factors that increase your susceptibility to getting it, and diagnosing necrotizing fasciitis can be a challenge for practitioners, but this serious condition needs to be treated as quickly as possible.

It is typically dealt with by a combination of antibiotics and surgical intervention to remove infected tissue. The mortality rate of necrotizing fasciitis is generally between 15–25 percent, which is a very high percentage of patients. Many of those who survive require amputation of extremities, where most cases occur on the body.

Risk Factors for Necrotizing Fasciitis

You also must understand that some people are more at risk for necrotizing fasciitis due to their current health status. People who are unhealthy and currently suffering with certain issues are at the most risk:

Diabetes (this is the most likely factor predisposing a person to the infection and subsequent complications)

Kidney disease

Cancer

Heart disease/hypertension (some studies found a mortality rate closer to one-third in patients with hypertension)

Alcohol abuse (especially combined with other risk factors, may result in the even rarer “cervical necrotizing fasciitis”)

Illicit drug use

In lab tests, some doctors noted that many patients diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis tested positive for anemia, high serum creatinine and hypoalbuminemia (low albumin, a protein created by the liver) and had an elevated pulse and low systolic blood pressure.

Most cases of necrotizing fasciitis stem from an infected wound, but it’s possible to contract the infection without an open wound. This is usually seen in patients with cirrhosis or those who have suffered blunt trauma that does not break the skin, such as that in a car accident.

Symptoms of Necrotizing Fasciitis

The difficult thing about necrotizing fasciitis is that it may seem like another injury or illness. Soreness will generally spread, and some describe it as feeling a pulled muscle around an injury site, followed by flu-like symptoms.

Symptoms to look for include:

Soreness around a wound: Generally far more painful than the severity of the wound.

Flu-like symptoms: Fever, chills, fatigue and vomiting are all common and usually pop up within a few hours of infection.

Red or purple swelling: This is likely to spread quickly, so I suggest making a mark at the edge of the swelling and then inspecting it an hour later. If the swelling has increased a quarter inch or more, get to the ER. Swelling, (erythema), is extremely common and typically accompanied by flu symptoms.

Ulcers: Not all people experience this, but some will get ulcers, black spots or blisters on their skin.

Tenderness: Around the affected area, especially if it seems out of proportion to the wound, might also signal a serious problem.

Bullae: This is a specific type of blister filled with serous (transparent or pale yellow) fluid. A hemorrhaging bulla is one late sign of necrotizing fasciitis that should cause major concern.

Skin necrosis: The death of patches of skin is a late sign of necrotizing fasciitis.

Fluctuance: Fluctuance is a “wave-like feeling” that occurs when an infected wound is touched. This odd symptom is seen in end-stage necrotizing fasciitis.

Sensory and motor deficits: Another final symptom as the infection spreads is usually experienced by patients already under hospitalization.

5 Ways to Prevent Necrotizing Fasciitis

The number one way to prevent necrotizing fasciitis is to promptly use first aid on all wounds and keep them clean as much as possible. Other preventive measures that may be taken are:

Oil of oregano: Using oil of oregano on wounds, particularly those that may have been exposed to unsanitary water, may aid your body in fighting off certain bacteria that can cause necrotizing fasciitis. Oil of oregano has been found, in lab studies, to fight E. coli bacteria. It may not, however, affect S. aureus bacteria, which accounts for the majority of flesh-eating bacteria cases, to the same extent.

Colloidal silver: This amazing substance has been the subject of a lot of controversy, but it seems, at least in a lab, to be able to kill S. aureusbacteria (responsible for staph infection).

Proper wound care: Taking care of cuts begins with cleaning and sanitizing them as soon as possible. Keep cuts covered with dry bandages and change them regularly, especially if the wound continues to excrete fluid. Be aware of swelling or infection signs and see a physician if the wound does not heal at a normal pace but continues to get worse.

Negative Pressure Wound Therapy: This home and clinical technique for wound care, referred to often as NPWT, involves a “vacuum dressing” to promote the healing of wounds. Negative pressure wound therapy may be especially useful in cases where a wound occurs while in contaminated water because it creates a negative pressure environment that draws out fluid. However, a review of this technique revealed that the results seem minimal at best. Future studies are needed to figure out if it’s an effective treatment for wound healing in general.

Avoid public water: Ever seen the sign near most public pools that states people with open wounds should not enter the pool? That’s for a reason — although unlikely, it’s possible that these bacteria can be present in pools, lakes, ponds, oceans and other sources of public water. If you have a wound that hasn’t closed yet, do your best to avoid exposing it to water except for that you use to clean the wound.

Treatment of Flesh-Eating Bacteria

Necrotizing fasciitis is a medical emergency. There are no home remedies safe to try when you begin experiencing these symptoms as this can spread fast and become life threatening quickly, so all treatment should take place as fast as possible, and under the care of a doctor. This condition always requires hospitalization.

Also a big concern is diagnosing necrotizing fasciitis as it can be a challenge. Doctors can’t always tell it apart from other flesh infections quickly. This is further complicated by the fact that this is so rare, the average physician will see only one case in their entire career.

Developing new treatment methods for conditions like this because using a placebo group risks unnecessary death and is considered highly unethical. However, there are some complementary therapies currently under investigation for their efficacy.

Dr. John Crew, director of the Advanced Wound Care Center at Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Calif., was responsible for developing a treatment protocol to treat flesh-eating bacteria without as pronounced a risk for amputation and death. Maintaining the antibiotic regimen already common in the treatment of necrotizing fasciitis, Dr. Crew began using negative pressure wound therapy and NeutroPhase (a pure hypochlorous acid solution) on patients with the condition.

Two other therapies have been utilized in recent years. One of them, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, involves breathing 100 percent oxygen in a whole-body chamber.

The results are somewhat tentative, as opponents feel that this is an unreasonable option as hyperbaric chambers are not available at all institutions. It’s also difficult and somewhat dangerous to transport a patient back and forth 3 times a day who’s suffering this way. However, there is some evidence this can improve wound healing in necrotizing fasciitis patients.

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